Sunrise Resources plc (‘SRES’) is a British-led diversified mineral exploration and development specialist.

The Company's objective is to develop profitable mining operations to sustain the Company’s wider exploration efforts and create value for shareholders through the discovery of world-class deposits.

The Company is evaluating a product opportunity for white barite in south-west Ireland and has an exploration portfolio including diamond exploration interests in Finland and Western Australia.

Shares in the Company trade on AIM under the symbol “SRES”.

FINLAND

The Kuusamo Project

In northern Finland the diamond exploration interests held by Sunrise Resources include seven new kimberlites discovered in a previously unrecognised cluster in north central Finland, now known as the “Kuusamo” kimberlite cluster and numerous additional untested targets in the same area. The Kuusamo project is located in the centre of the Karelian Craton which extends from Sweden, through Finland and eastwards into Russia.

The diamond prospective area of the Karelian Craton in Finland, defined by Archaean rocks with <40 mW/m2 heat flow and >200 km lithospheric thickness, covers over 300,000 sq.km and is nearly the same size as the Slave Craton in Canada. Published geochemical data on indicator minerals suggest that the diamond window beneath central Finland may be 90km or more thick – on a par with, or greater than, other cratons in the world containing economic diamond deposits (Figure 1).

Kimberlites are widely distributed in the Karelian Craton and a higher-than-average percentage of these kimberlites contain diamonds. These have a broad spectrum of compositions including Group I and II and various hybrids of the kimberlite clan. In the Russian part of the Craton, large economic diamond deposits have been discovered in the Arkhangelsk region, including the Lomonosov diamond project run by Alrosa and the highly diamondiferous Grib pipe.

The Kuusamo project area is located in east central Finland close to the Russian border and close to the geographic centre of the Karelian Craton. The Kuusamo kimberlites are located some 120 km north of the Group II kimberlites/olivine lamproites reported from the Lentiira area of eastern Finland and about 300 km NE from the Group I kimberlites discovered in the 1980's and 90's in the Kaavi- Kuopio region at the southwestern edge of the craton. 

The kimberlites are located in the following project areas:

Kalettomanpuro

Kattaisenvaara

Anomalies 45/47

Lampi

Micro-diamonds have been recovered from three Kuusamo kimberlites in preliminary sampling.

To read more about the Kuusamo Project please Click Here.

Kaavi-Kuopio

In August 2006 Sunrise announced that it had signed a farm-in and joint venture agreement with Canada’s Nordic Diamonds Ltd (“Nordic”) under which Sunrise could earn up to a 75% joint venture interest in claims covering 16 of the 20 known kimberlite pipes in the Kaavi-Kuopio area of south-central Finland, most of which are diamondiferous. Subsequently, in January 2009, Sunrise moved to acquire 100% of the Nordic joint venture claims and Nordic retains a royalty interest.

To read more please Click Here.

AUSTRALIA

Australia - Cue Project – Diamonds, PGM's & Au

In October 2009 the Company applied for an exploration licence targeting diamonds, platinum group metals (PGM’s) and gold in Western Australia.

The exploration licence application (ELA20/727) covers an area of approximately 70 square km and is located 70km to the north-west of the town of Cue in the Murchison Mineral Field in the Yilgarn Craton of Western Australia.

The Cue region was explored by De Beers in the period 1994-2002 during which time De Beers discovered a number of kimberlite dykes in two separate areas within the Company’s application area.

The Cue project is the first of a number of new projects planned by the Company to broaden its geographical base and widen its commodity interests which, to date, have been focused on diamond exploration in Finland.

To read more about the Cue Project please Click Here.

Ireland

Derryginagh Project

In November 2009 the Company was granted a Prospecting Licence for base metals, barite, silver, gold and platinum group elements near Bantry, County Cork, in the south-west of the Irish Republic.

The Company is targeting the Derryginagh barite deposit for the production of high value white “paint-grade” barite for use as mineral filler in paints and plastics. White paint-grade barite is the highest-value use for barite having significant sales volumes. Off-white barite is used as a lower value mineral filler and high volumes of low-grade barite are used as a weighting agent in drilling mud in the oil and gas industry.

There is a significant demand for white paint-grade barite in Europe but no major mine supply outside of China and India. Consequently there is a niche opportunity for a new European supplier as China's own internal demand limits traditional exports. The price currently quoted for white paint-grade barite is £195-220/tonne delivered to the UK.

In May 2011 the Company announced positive results from a technical and economic concept study that suggested a project producing 50,000 tonnes per year of barite filler could be economically feasible and in late 2011/early 2012 a drilling programme was carried out that demonstrated that the Derryginagh vein continues at depth hosting high grade barite at depth of at least 180m below surface where the vein remains open to expansion.

To read more about the Derryginagh Project please Click Here.

Directors & Senior Management

Executive Chairman – Patrick Cheetham

Mr Cheetham is the founder of the Company. He is a mining geologist with 29 years experience in mineral exploration and 23 years in public company management. Mr Cheetham started his career as an exploration geologist in Australia with Western Mining Corporation and prior to that worked for Imperial Metals Corporation in British Columbia, Canada. From 1986 to 1993 he was joint managing director of Dragon Mining NL, during which time he was responsible for the formation of that company, the identification of and acquisition of its exploration projects, its listing on the Australian Stock Exchange and the subsequent development of its exploration projects. Patrick co-founded Archaean Gold N.L. in 1993 - the subject of a successful $50 million takeover bid by Lachlan Resources NL. He is currently also Chairman of Tertiary Minerals plc.

            
(Senior) Non-Executive Director - Francis Johnstone

Mr Johnstone is a founding director of the Company with over 20 years experience in the mining sector and has been a director of a number of junior resource companies. He is currently an adviser to Baker Steel Resources Trust Limited, an investment company listed on the London Stock Exchange specialising in private mining investments. Prior to that he was Commercial Director of Ridge Mining plc, an AIM listed mining company which took the Blue Ridge Platinum Mine in South Africa, from first discovery through to production which prior to being acquired by Aquarius Platinum Limited in a recommended takeover for £143 million in July 2009.

             
Non-Executive Director - Neil Herbert

Mr. Herbert has worked in the management of mining and exploration companies in Africa, Asia and the Americas since 1998. He is currently Co-Chairman and Managing Director for Polo Resources. Mr. Herbert is the Chairman of mineral exploration company UrAmerica Ltd and a Director of European Nickel plc. Previously he was Finance Director of UraMin Inc from its formation in 2005, its listing on both AIM and TSX raising over US$400 million and through its acquisition by Areva in 2007 for US$2.5bn. Mr. Herbert was previously Finance Director of Galahad Gold plc, International Molybdenum plc, Kalahari Diamond Resources plc and HPD Exploration plc managing a number of project acquisitions and disposals together with stock market listings and fund raisings and has been non-executive director of a number of other companies. He was Chief Financial Officer of gold explorer Brancote Holdings plc until its acquisition by Meridian Gold Inc in 2002 for US$368 million. Mr. Herbert is a fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants and prior to joining the mining industry worked for Price Waterhouse.
             
         
Company Secretary - Colin Fitch MA, LLM, FCIS, Barrister-at- Law

Colin Fitch is a Barrister-at-Law, and was previously Corporate Finance Director of Kleinwort Benson, Partner and Head of Corporate Finance at Rowe & Pitman (SG Warburg Securities) and Assistant Secretary at the London Stock Exchange. He has also held a number of non-executive directorships of public and private companies, including Merrydown Plc. Since retiring from full time work he is currently non-executive director of African Lakes and was until recently Company Secretary of both Ridge Mining plc and Cluff Gold.

The Company’s shares trade on AIM (London Stock Exchange). There are no restrictions on the transfer of any of the Company’s AIM Securities

Updated from Sunrise Resources website 23.05.2012